Cardiff Beach Family Photos | Tanya + Barrett
As a San Diego family photographer, I get to shoot at many beaches in San Diego. I usually hit my regulars like Scripps Beach or Windansea, but other times I do go north county. In these Cardiff Beach Family Photos | Tanya + Barrett wanted their photos more on the brighter and more airy side so we started the session 2 hours before sunset instead of during magic hour. Magic hour is the hour before sunset when the light changes and gets warmer and not necessarily bright. Also, the tide was on its way down at Cardiff beach too!
Fall time in San Diego is like summer part two! I loved the earthy colors that they chose for their wardrobe colors. It’s always a good idea to choose, at most, 3 colors and they wear different shades within those colors. It gives a nice uniform look without being too matchy-matchy.
When you shoot at the beach, you are very exposed to the light. Whenever possible you should have your session in the early morning or at sunset. It helps if there are cliffs or a pier to help block the light or diffuse the light. At Cardiff there are cliffs on the east side but that’s it. So I used that “wall” to block the light and with one of the family members. You can use people to block other people’s light and create shade. We then walked over to Tabletops and used the staircase as well as the shade provided by that staircase.
Be comforted knowing you can always create shade, now matter how bright. You need to be creative with the poses and angles. Shooting with a tighter lens always helps to reduce the light too. In this session, I used my Canon 85mm prime lens. Great way to keep the shots tight and keep extra light out.
